Tuesday, March 23, 2010

1. Younger's triumphant hat for his show choir pianist's first baby, due in June:

I am delighted to report that the recipient, Colin, was ecstatically impressed and a wonderful gift-getter. So nice when that happens!

2. Amaryllis of wonder. I bought two and gave one to my friend Marie, and it exploded into beautiful blossoms of white and pink, three stalks' worth, each with five blooms. Mine, scarlet, is on its third stalk as well, this one with four blossoms (the other two had two gorgeous trumpets each). Easily worth the $12.95 for each! What show-stoppers!

It's a grey, chilly day here, but still no rain! We are really hoping for it, as we haven't had any for a long time. I think it's all pooled in CT, where there's been major flooding, etc. We don't need all that, but certainly a day/night of steady precip. would be good, rejoicing the souls of the buds and the bulbs and the trees!

Let's see: it's Monday am, 6 am to be precise, so my post is not the usual "What I hope to do this weekend" variety. We did have a nice weekend: the high school had no classes on Friday, the inservice day I helped to plan was a huge success and a lot of fun, Younger and I headed off to Bangor for a fun trip to Target so I could see their Liberty line (clothes, not so good; housewares, okay: I got some notepaper!), and I watched "Funny Face": hello, dumb movie!!! I am all for suspending disbelief, but Astaire looked like a child molester, Hepburn couldn't sing, and what I think you'd call "the production values" AND the plot were really weak. BUT. . . I worked on Ellyn's second sock and am nearly nearly done. Yay!

The big news is that Younger's jazz band got SECOND in the State competition--sort of out of the blue! I am so happy for him and his director: it's been an up and down year, and it's rare to have things come together so successfully at the end. . . Younger was sportin' a pair of wingtips we happened (okay, Eagle-Eye-for-Bargains *I*) spotted in the clearance bin, and he loves them, so maybe that mojo helped. But it was great.

And I went out to see a band downtown (!!). . . BH was too tired so I was sans partner and didn't get to dance as much as I wanted to, but it was fun to be there and how different is that for me? I have extracted a sort-of promise from BH to go the next time they're playing, and then we'll be up and at 'em!

So my goal for this week, schoolwise, is to keep my challenging 9/10 class in focus. Partly, I'm praying about it (which makes me laugh because it would freak out the kids to know that, but I think Jesus is ALL ABOUT kids like this. . . which is part of what makes the whole thing so hard, because I can't just dismiss them!) and partly I am just trying to step back and see what the kids need. In a nonjudgemental kind of way. I hope.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Because, even on a crap day when I ponder the future of our civilization because kids seem so resistant to learning or doing anything remotely demanding even breathing practically,

when I wonder if it's ME and I'm just an evil/demanding/unrealistic/too strict/too old fashioned/too closeminded/too [you fill in the blanks] old monster who should stop harming the youth of America,

when I drive home battling to turn off the drumbeat of "I must" "I should" "I have to" and "I should have" in my mind,

he can still make me laugh out loud at lines like "he was what you would get if you shaved a bear" and other gems, and he never seems to forget the value of human beings, even when they are stinky, stubborn, short-sighted, and difficult.

Both of these are things I needed to do or be reminded of today, and the wonderful Stephen Briggs recording of Going Postal that is gracing me with its company these days did the trick.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

I know we are still in for some nasty days and grueling weather, but my! We've had a stretch of three days of downright lovely. Not a weekend for the LOTR trilogy at all: my run yesterday featured my running tights and a long sleeved tshirt and a LOT of sweat--what a sign of Spring! BH and I went for a nice walk along the Bangor waterfront after a nice lunch while we waited for the 60,000 check on his car, and I even hung out more laundry! Life is good!

I hope to reappear shortly with some FO pictures. . . MUCH progress has been being made (!) on various odds and ends. Stay tuned, and enjoy the weather!

Ah, here they are.

The big brown and orange socks were finished this morning and seized by Younger with cries of joy. Since he is VERY fussy about his feet, I considered and discarded the idea of giving them to him for C'mas (he likes orange and funky stuff, as you can tell by his pj pant legs!), so am delighted he likes them! The booties were resurrected, as I had run out of yarn to finish the second one and make the ties. With both Elder and BH asking for booties for various causes, I got creative and did a Frankenstein type yarn transfusion, making one shorter and lengthening the other, and then dug up some yarn that sort of matched for the ties. One pair down, one more to go! But nice to have two FO's, esp as both are patterns I love. Nothing like that Yankee Knitter sock pattern or that great bootie. . . Yay!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Got up this morning to walk Zeus, and although it is still overcast, it was definitely 1. light enough to see, and 2. not bitter. (That's a very Maine thing to praise, but still!). It was also not raining or snowing, a weather trend that has been the rule for the past week plus. So all in all, it felt like a very verge-of-Spring type of day--for some reason, it felt like a very English Spring day, though all the Brits I know are watching bulbs come up, while our ground is rock hard still. However, I would guess that while people are canceling snowshoe races left right and center, many maple syrup makers are dusting off their spiles and buckets for the season. Things take their time, but their time is coming!

Have had a few Orc-type dreams lately, but all in all, seem to have survived the experience quite well. After that viewing and two (quite high energy and fun) meetings yesterday, I am nearly through the foot of my brown/orange sock, and am nearly the heel on the Charybdis sock. Such productivity and energy!